DHAKA Suspected Islamist militants brutally murdered a university professor on Saturday in northwestern Bangladesh, a police official told reporters, the latest in a spate of attacks on liberal activists.

Two or three assailants rode up on a motorcycle and attacked Rezaul Karim Siddiquee, an English professor at Rajshahi University, slitting his throat and hacking him to death, said police official Golam Sackline.

"We are investigating the killing," Sackline said. The pattern of the murder was similar to other recent attacks by Islamist militants, he said.

The Muslim-majority nation of 160 million has seen a surge in violent attacks over the past year in which liberal activists, members of minority Muslim sects and other religious groups have been targeted.

(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Tom Hogue)

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